Canada to set up military bases abroad

Canadian Minister of Defense Peter MacKay

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183110.html

The Canadian military says it plans to set up military bases in seven countries to gain the “capability for expeditionary participation in international missions.”

Canada's Minister of Defense Peter MacKay said on Friday that the main goal will be supporting the humanitarian and combat missions abroad, AFP reported.

The Canadian media said Ottawa has so far reached agreements to open new bases in Germany and Jamaica, and is negotiating with Kuwait. Other targeted countries include Senegal, South Korea, Kenya, and Singapore.

David Bercuson, a senior research fellow with the Canadian Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute, said the Canadian facilities are more likely to be "small storage facilities" comprising an airfield, a warehouse and two or three soldiers.

"They will be what you would call 'forward supply depots,' strategically placed near parts of the world where Canadian Forces might be deployed in future," he further explained.

Canada was forced in October 2010 to close a top-secret military base in Dubai that was part of a key supply route to Afghanistan after refusing to grant the UAE's two national carriers, Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways, more landing rights.

During the Cold War, Canada also maintained two bases in Germany but closed them in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.